Protein-Coding Genes in Euarchontoglires with Pseudogene Homologs in Humans

Abstract

An original bioinformatics technique is developed to identify the protein-coding genes in rodents, lagomorphs and nonhuman primates that are pseudogenized in humans. The method is based on per-gene verification of local synteny, similarity of exon-intronic structures and orthology in a set of genomes. It is applicable to any genome set, even with the number of genomes exceeding 100, and efficiently implemented using fast computer software. Only 50 evolutionary recent human pseudogenes were predicted. Their functional homologs in model species are often associated with the immune system or digestion and mainly express in the testes. According to current evidence, knockout of most of these genes leads to an abnormal phenotype. Some genes were pseudogenized or lost independently in human and nonhuman hominoids.